My first trip to Lake Tahoe (and my first skiing trip) involved almost everything but skiing. Rob, Justin, and I set out from the South Bay early Friday (the 13th) afternoon and drove through through the rain through the evening. We were ecstatic to see some snow in the mountain pass, but it went back to rain when we arrived in Lake Tahoe. Two large casinos towered directly behind the tiny 'Nevada State Line' sign in the middle of Tahoe. At the Safeway where we met up with Brahm and Robert, they were giving away free drinks to the people playing slot machines.

Brahm's friend/ex-boss Ed was our host; he had a large house high up in South Lake Tahoe, affording a beautiful view of the Lake and mountains beyond which I didn't get to see until the next morning:

  

  

We knew a storm was coming, but we expected to be driving through it and for it to leave a generous layer of fresh powder for us to ski on. Instead, it waited until the middle of the next day to arrive and began with the winds that closed Heavenly.

  

As Brahm, Rob, and Robert went on to Kirkwood (they only got in a few runs), Justin and I went back to hang out with Ed. The storm rolled in, wagging the nearby back and forth. The others got back as the snow began to darken everything.

    

Then the lights went out.

  

The next morning, South Lake Tahoe had the generous blanket of snow we were looking for. But the winds were still high and the next storm was coming back, so we cleared off the cars, threw some snowballs, and headed home.